"The meaning of texts is determined by their inter-relationship with one another." Using the term genre, discourse and inter-textuality, discuss this statement with reference to Bladerunner and Lambs of God.
Student no: 30646723 class: Thursday 6-7pm W5C309
Topic: "The meaning of texts is determined by their inter-relationship with one another." Using the term genre, discourse and inter-textuality, discuss this statement with reference to Bladerunner and Lambs of God.
Texts are articulations of the society, each writer is in attempt to carry out the main ideas within the text through their use of language, which might resulted in different versions of receptions due to distinctions that existed between readers and periods during their reading as Thwaites reveals "every text is understood in different ways by different groups of people at different times"(Thwaites, 1994: pp88). Furthermore, the context within each may not directly reveals certain aspect of our society. Nevertheless, the meaning of texts is consistent in each as it is determined by their inter-relationship with one another. In order explore this statement, this essay will examine this issue in terms of genre, discourse and inter-textuality. Contemporary texts "Bladerunner"(motion picture) and "Lambs of God"(novel) will be taken in discussion as examples.
In general, genre is simply defined as "a grouping of texts which are similar in structure or subject matter"(Thwaites, 1994:pp91). Moreover, certain genre consists certain convention or characteristic. This could be examined in Bladerunner which is a contemporary scientific movie based on its original fiction. Bladerunner is set in the year 2020, Los Angeles where super-cop, Deckard, has to eliminate four "replicants" before they can eliminate him. A very typical detective genre is presented at the beginning. However, the genre is varying according to the theme development, more importantly to carry out the meanings of the text. Therefore, towards the end of the movie, the scientific feature of the movie is fading less and less as the issue of real human is appeared more and more, and the final statement from the one of the detectives "it's too bad that he wouldn't live, but then again who does" remains the contemplation regarding what really distinguish
human, again this is a connotation of the main issue. Although the genres is varying, still
Student no: 30646723 class: Thursday 6-7pm W5C309
this main issue is clearly displayed because the inter-relationship between Deckard, as a individual and an institution of four "replicants" are constant. Therefore their hostile positions strongly support the confliction exist between them, that is where is the tension between human and non-human is established. Taking Lambs of God as an example. The most obvious discovery that can be made through the observation on genre is that it is a contemporary (Gothic) fantasy. To extend this idea of fantasy, a number of conventions are taken into account. Firstly, the ...
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Student no: 30646723 class: Thursday 6-7pm W5C309
this main issue is clearly displayed because the inter-relationship between Deckard, as a individual and an institution of four "replicants" are constant. Therefore their hostile positions strongly support the confliction exist between them, that is where is the tension between human and non-human is established. Taking Lambs of God as an example. The most obvious discovery that can be made through the observation on genre is that it is a contemporary (Gothic) fantasy. To extend this idea of fantasy, a number of conventions are taken into account. Firstly, the exotic story setting: threes nuns inhabit in "a ruined monastery on an island off Britain... isolated for years, they spend their lives in quiet worship, caring for lambs during the day, telling stories while they knit in the evenings"(Johnson,1998) which is seem as a removal from the world of the everyday. Such alienated but peaceful atmosphere filled this novel and revolved around it to bring out an isolated convent. Secondly, the fantasy is reflected on the references to religious practice, such as midday prayer and evening prayer which not only suggest a religious appealing, but also a sense of mystery that existed in their religious lives. Finally, fairy tales (eg: Sleeping Beauty) that been told in nuns' own versions reinforce the fantasy sphere, and again reveal the innocence they possessed because they are in deliberate attempt to neglect the "ugly" parts of the stories. To extend the generic analysis of fantasy, different sort of issues that (Gothic) fantasy traditionally dealt (with) are to be taken into consideration. Consequently, issues such as the nature of "real" and the relationship between the rational (or the normal) and the irrational (or aberrant) have arisen. The ingenuity of this novel is shown when the author reveals these issues through the symbolic confliction between the nuns and the "ambitions young Father" (Johnston,1998) who comes from the "outside world". This "isolated religious community whose monastic lives are disturbed by the appearance of Father Ignatius"(Kessel,1999), their distinctive understandings of "rational and irrational" are facing challenges, whether their values regarding the essence of this issue are "normal". For instance, whether the use of forks at dinner is a demonstration of civilisation act. Hence analysis is now move onto
question what aspects of the "real" does this novel address in particular? Nevertheless,
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again in this novel the confliction between the characters remained all the way through even the genre varied, this is due the constant inter-relationship between the individual, priest/his world and the institution which consists three nuns/their own world.
The meaning of texts not only can be derived from the genre, but also can be derived from the discourse of which the text is representative(Kress, 1985/89:pp20). In Bladerunner, there are three major discourses operating in this movie: human discourse, gender discourse and technology discourse. Precisely, the discourse of human is the most dominant message the movie conveys. Real human and human-made(laboratory-created) creatures "replicants" are juxtaposed before the issue of survival, however, their distinctive actions toward the same purpose challenge the question of "real human" because "replicants" in the movie are actually showing more emotions and caring for each other whereas the real human who are supposed to be emotional, are simply only focusing on how to eliminate enemies, real human are rather to be like "killing machines". There is a certain degree of gender discourse involved in this movie. "All the women are sexualised and made erotic"(Fuery, 1997: pp94) as they are in attempt to seduce males in order to suffice themselves, either to escape or to obtain contact information. "All the male bodies are defined through their acts of violence."(Fuery,1997: pp94), the scene where Deckard shoots one of the female "replicants" in the back is very disturbing and confronting. In addition, the love scene between Deckard and Rachel again suggests male dominating over female, moreover his violent act reveals the fact that Deckard doesn't know how to use his emotions, hence the question of whether himself is a "replicant" is hinted. As a science fiction, discourses of technology is inevitably a important feature that has been prompted in the movie. Within this movie, emphasis does not remain only on the contemporary uses of technology, such as constructing "replicants", but beyond that it also questions the consequences and responsibility of using new technology. This issue is rather contradicted because technology is traditionally demanded to make life easier and
Student no: 30646723 class: Thursday 6-7pm W5C309
advance, but here the products of technology - "replicants" threat human lives, then human fears arose which contrasts with the original and beneficial desire of using technology. In "Lambs of God" the discourse of technology also threat the nuns which are reflected through their initial reactions towards mobile phone and also their frights when they heard the car "screaming" (alarming). Discourse of normal was also considered in this novel, different living circumstances distinguished their realisation of "normal"(within the context of religious life) hence it ends in the confliction between priest and nuns. Furthermore, this could lead to the discourse of civilisation, distinctive definition are established on their initial recognition of a "normal" religious life, where the nuns advocate naturalness of life (shearing and telling stories etc) and the priest insists on more realistic or rational ideas (development on monastery).
Intertextuality is literally a referencing from one text to anther which is one of the ways to precisely analysis and examine the meanings within the texts. Furthermore, one the advantages of exploring intertextuality is that text is better understood by association with others. As a scientific movie, Bladerunner could be classified within the same category as Star Wars because of their similar setting and the issue of struggling for human survival against Aliens. By connecting these context, it is easier to understand the circumstances when human are threat by "outsiders" as a background knowledge of aliens are simply established, particularly, their usual target on destroying the earth. Nevertheless, besides the violent and high technical wars in between, Bladerunner addresses the issue of human and blindness of the scientific community which reflects human weakness and irresponsibility back on us. In "Lambs of God", the setting of monastery and the religious characters could be associated with a expectation of their faith as we normally discover on Christianity in everyday life. Consequently, the recognition of their peaceful life and the way they live is easily accepted by the readers. Nevertheless, the author still successfully
creates a tension between the priest and nuns by setting these nuns in a isolated condition
Student no: 30646723 class: Thursday 6-7pm W5C309
in the first place. Moreover, the reference to fairy tales like "sleeping beauty" helped to achieve a strong contrast and hence demonstrates the distinctiveness of these nuns.
In conclusion, through the discussion in terms of genre, discourse and inter-textuality, it is precisely to prove the fact that inter-relationship of texts with one another determine the meaning of text.
Student no: 30646723 class: Thursday 6-7pm W5C309
References:
Scott, Ridley. Bladerunner [U.S.]: Ladd Company. 1982
Day, Marele. Lambs of God Victoria: Allen &Unwin. 1998
Thwaites, T. et al. "Genre and intertexuality" in Tools for Cultural Studies: an
Introduction Melbourne: Macmillan Education. 1994. pp88-110
Johnston, Bonnie. "Lambs of God. (book review)" Booklist March 1, 1998. Vol 94,
No.13. p1091(2)
Kessel, Joyce. "Lambs of God. (Review)" Library Journal Nov 15,1999. Vol 124, i19.
p120
Kress, G. "Kinds of text: genre" from Linguistic processes in sociocultural practice.
Geelong: Deakin U.P./Oxford: OUP, 1985/89: pp.18-32
Fuery, Patrick. Nick Mansfield. "Post-humanism" In McMillan, Jo.(ed). Cultural Studies
and the New Humanities: Concepts and Controversies Melbourne: Oxford
University Press. 1997. p4-17
Fuery, Patrick. Nick Mansfield. "The Skin of the Text " In McMillan, Jo.(ed). Cultural
Studies and the New Humanities: Concepts and Controversies Melbourne: Oxford
University Press. 1997. p85-99
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